Chamisa's MDC anniversary celebrations next week

Published: 21 September 2018

The Nelson Chamisa-led MDC has rescheduled its 19th anniversary celebrations to next week at Gwanzura Stadium after a ban on public gatherings due to a cholera outbreak.

Chamisa, last week, called off plans to mark the party's 19th anniversary and concomitantly hold a mock inauguration to name himself as the country's president in a bid to highlight claims that the July 30 election was rigged.

MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume told the Daily News yesterday that the party's National Standing Committee met in its inaugural sitting this week and decided to have the anniversary celebrations on September 29.

"We are going to have our anniversary celebrations on the 29th of September. We are going to seek permission but if they refuse, we are going to court.

"Before the anniversary, our organising committee led by the organising secretary is going to move around the country, conducting meetings with our structures and opinion leaders on the way forward.

"We want to deal with this legitimacy issue because the country's economy is burning. Zanu-PF is clueless on how to solve the current crisis," Mafume said.

The police had earlier on given the MDC the green light to hold its rally but made a volte-face after realising that it may provide a fertile ground for the spread of the disease.

Last month, the police also barred the MDC from holding a rally in Kwekwe, citing the outbreak of typhoid in Gweru.

Government had also warned Chamisa against swearing himself in as president, saying he risked arrest if he proceeded to do so.

This followed Chamisa's declaration recently that he would convene an assembly that would swear him in as president and proceed to announce an alternative cabinet.

Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister Ziyambi Ziyambi had responded by rebuking Chamisa, who still insists that the July 30 vote was rigged in favour of Mnangagwa despite the ruling by the Constitutional Court, which threw out his electoral challenge.

"The Chief Justice is the one who is mandated to do that (swearing-in). It's a serious breach of the law. He will be arrested for that," said Ziyambi.

"It is unfortunate that he can't accept reality and move on as an opposition leader.

"We need to be united as a country…He thinks he can break our laws and get away with it.

"We are a serious government, we can't allow people to breach the law and cause the suffering of innocent Zimbabweans.

"We are going to arrest him if he does that. Those who are mandated to maintain peace and law are ready to arrest him." - dailynews